I expect this was a wood-turning machie...

[Sam Thompson]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/unusual-ancient-large-oak-framed-lathe-/330464421821?pt=UK_BOI_Building_Materials_Supplies_Carpentry_Woodwork_ET

[ThomasPowers]

not unusual at all I see modern versions quite frequently for woodworkers doing pole lathe work at historical demos.

[bigfootnampa]

That's right. Not worth much to a working man now but a nice artifact. Possibly powered by a spring pole and treadle or by an assistant. Possibly not THAT ancient as it still has most of it's iron parts. I would be more likely to describe it as antique.

[chyancarrek]

not unusual at all I see modern versions quite frequently for woodworkers doing pole lathe work at historical demos.

Yeah, We made a treadle version at the Ft Vancouver site a number of years ago - it was a fun co-op project between the carpentry and blacksmith shops.
It was surprising how effectively it worked!

[thecelticforge]

It looks almost identical to the one we used at Fort New Salem.

[Bentiron1946]

That's kind of interesting. I worked with a fellow with the last name of Turner, he wanted to know what a turner was and so I helped him find out what a turner did. One of the illustrations show a lathe like that with a man hunched over it turning chair and table legs with a spring pole attached. I guess it was a fairly common occupation among the lower class in England. :blink:

[Mainely,Bob]

That's kind of interesting. I worked with a fellow with the last name of Turner, he wanted to know what a turner was and so I helped him find out what a turner did. One of the illustrations show a lathe like that with a man hunched over it turning chair and table legs with a spring pole attached. I guess it was a fairly common occupation among the lower class in England.

Those guys making chair parts were known as "Bodgers".Many of them used spring pole lathes and lived in the woods where they harvested their material.

[Bentiron1946]

Thanks for that, I'll tell him to change his name We got it from a book that was in the public library, it was called something like "the Illustrated Guide to Common English Names", it had all kinds of weird stuff in that I'd never heard of like barker, had two meanings, one who removes bark from cut timber and one who is a caller to sell items. It had an illustration like a woodcut of each occupation and short description of their work and a turner was a person who made objects on a lathe. There was no mention of bodgers in the description of such an occupation. I'm not saying that it couldn't have been a slang expression for the job but that not what my research at the time turned up. :blink:

[ThomasPowers]

Turners were more upscale than bodgers! Of course bodgers were probably higher class than colliers...

[Robert Mayo]

There is a local fellow here that makes chairs and he turns all the legs with one of those i seen him with his lathe working at the local steam show a while back. He made beautifull chairs all with no power tools. He was right beside the guy that carved antler with an old treadle sewing machine that was powering one of those old belt driven dental drills.

Bob